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Audiobook edition · 9 h 0 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if the man who saves you from poverty is the man you should fear most?
In a shabby Marylebone house, Ellen Bunting and her husband dread the workhouse. Then Mr. Sleuth arrives: tall, soft-spoken, and ready to pay well for rooms. His money promises relief. But he guards his bag, keeps to himself, and goes out at night, while a killer called the Avenger stalks London's foggy streets.
Marie Belloc Lowndes keeps this crime story close to Ellen, a proud former servant whose suspicions threaten her fragile security. Mr. Bunting trusts their guest, and his daughter Daisy likes him. Meanwhile, Joe Chandler, the young detective courting Daisy, works on the murders. Fear, loyalty, and the need for money make every doubt harder to face.
What you’ll discover
- A stranger upstairs Watch a welcome paying guest turn the Buntings' small house into a place of unease.
- Ellen's growing fear Follow a sharp, proud woman as ordinary details become increasingly difficult to dismiss.
- London under threat Feel the dread of foggy streets where the Avenger leaves mocking notes beside his victims.
- The price of respectability Explore how the fear of poverty pulls against suspicion, loyalty, and the wish to seem decent.
- Suspense close to home Discover tension built through watchful silences and strained relationships rather than a chase.
Who will love it
You will enjoy this book if you like suspense built from small domestic details, foggy Victorian London, or stories about conscience, class and the secrets married people keep from each other.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A stranger offers relief from ruin
- Need makes strange behavior seem harmless
- Comfort keeps Ellen from asking questions
- The hunt reaches the sitting room
- Daisy brings innocence into the secret
- Small traces become harder to dismiss
- Witnesses unsettle Ellen's borrowed certainty
- Respectability can shelter a dangerous silence
Who’s who
- Ellen BuntingA prim, careful former maid and landlady who wants safety for her husband and herself, and will pay a high price in silence to keep it.
- Robert BuntingA mild, plump former butler who loves newspaper crime stories and his daughter, and who longs for steady work and peace.
- Mr. SleuthA tall, gaunt, Bible-reading gentleman who rents the top rooms, shuns meat and drink, and wants quiet for his mysterious experiments.
- Joe ChandlerA young, kind-hearted Scotland Yard detective who wants to catch the Avenger and to win Daisy Bunting.
- Daisy BuntingBunting's cheerful eighteen-year-old daughter, raised by an old aunt, who wants a little freedom, a little adventure and a sweetheart.
- Old AuntDaisy's strict guardian, an elderly widow who keeps the girl close and whose approval the Buntings need.
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The Lodger
by Marie Belloc Lowndes · 1913
A penniless couple let rooms to a gentle stranger with a leather bag, while a killer stalks London's fog.
Medium level5–10 hours to readEnglish
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In short
What would you do if a stranger knocked on the worst night of your life and offered ten gold sovereigns? In The Lodger, Robert Bunting and his wife Ellen sit by a dying fire in a London house on Marylebone Road.
The Lodger at a glance
- Reading time
- About 5 h 5 min4 h fast, 6 h slow
- Length
- 72,300 words
- Library level
- Medium longer sentences, everyday words
- First published
- 1913by Marie Belloc Lowndes
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
The Buntings stand at the edge of ruin
The book opens on a couple who look safe but are not. Their sitting room is spotless, with red curtains, a good carpet and a leather armchair bought at auction. Yet the fire is banked low, and the cupboard is almost bare.
Bunting has pawned his formal clothes, his gold watch chain and his mourning ring. Ellen would sooner go hungry than enter a pawnshop. Their only regular visitor is Joe Chandler, a young police detective who lends them thirty shillings and times his calls so they need not feed him.
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- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas of the whole book in about 15 minutes. A good first look, or a refresher.
Details
- First published
- 1913
- Language
- English
- Reading time
- 5 h 50 min
- Level
- Medium level
Cite this edition
Lowndes, Marie Belloc. The Lodger. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-lodger.
Lowndes, M. B. (2026). The lodger. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-lodger (Original work published 1913)
Lowndes, Marie Belloc. The Lodger. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-lodger.
@book{lowndes2026lodger,
author = {Lowndes, Marie Belloc},
title = {The Lodger},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-lodger},
note = {First published 1913}
}
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What is The Lodger by Marie Belloc Lowndes about?
It tells of Robert and Ellen Bunting, a poor London couple who rent rooms to a strange, polite gentleman during a series of murders. As the weeks pass, Ellen begins to fear what her lodger does at night.
Is The Lodger based on Jack the Ripper?
The novel draws on the fear that Jack the Ripper spread through London, but its killer, the Avenger, and its characters are invented. Lowndes published it in 1913 as a work of fiction.
Who is Mr. Sleuth in The Lodger?
Mr. Sleuth is the tall, thin, scholarly stranger who takes the Buntings' top rooms. He reads the Bible all day, avoids meat and drink, pays handsomely and goes walking at strange hours.
The author
Marie Belloc Lowndes
1868–1947 · English mystery novelist
Marie Belloc Lowndes (1868–1947) was an English novelist born in London. She lived in England and wrote novels, biographies, and memoirs. Her novels include The Lodger, published in 1913, and Good Old Anna, published in 1915. She was the sister of the writer Hilaire Belloc.
More by Marie Belloc Lowndes
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